The possibility exists, but how many people have ever done this in practise?
Irrespective of how many other people do it (please don’t worry about that too much), I would encourage everyone to overcome their shyness and actually ask for help, information or social support by whatever medium. Personally, I felt delighted when someone sent me a question. Even though I am quite busy, responding was probably well worth my time.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard of a few from people writing in to me saying “thanks for the map, I met awesome person X on it which let to fruitful thing Y”. But I’ve only had a few emails to that effect, so I have no idea how common it is! I expect people are indeed shier than they need to be, effective altruists tend to really like talking to other like-minded people. :)
The possibility exists, but how many people have ever done this in practise?
Irrespective of how many other people do it (please don’t worry about that too much), I would encourage everyone to overcome their shyness and actually ask for help, information or social support by whatever medium. Personally, I felt delighted when someone sent me a question. Even though I am quite busy, responding was probably well worth my time.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard of a few from people writing in to me saying “thanks for the map, I met awesome person X on it which let to fruitful thing Y”. But I’ve only had a few emails to that effect, so I have no idea how common it is! I expect people are indeed shier than they need to be, effective altruists tend to really like talking to other like-minded people. :)